Union of Human Settlements
The Union of Human Settlements (UHS as commonly abbreviated or commonly known as the Union, demonym Patriot) is a Corporate Stratocracy that formerly consisted of the 7 star systems that are now called: Sol, Tameo, Neva's Glory, Hope's Light, Pere, Freedom's Rise, and Eye of the Elders. Now the once great star nation only consists of the Sol star system and by extension, it's homeworld of Earth and a research station on Mars. It is ruled by the oligarchic council of CEOs and military leaders called the Unionist National Liberation Council. The giant metropolitan capital city of the Union on Earth is called The Chain. It's name is supposed to represent that the city is the chain that keeps the Union of Human Settlements together. It's common currency is the Union Credit while it uses a hyper-laissez-faire-capitalist military industrial complex economy. Early History and Unionism The ideology of the Union of Human Settlements is Unionism. The basic principles of Unionism are laissez-faire capitalism, nationalism, militarism, and an alliance between corporate interests and state interests. Unionism found ground in the mid 22nd century when the world was falling apart and people were looking for something to unite them. Back then humanity had only created a small research station on Mars with more primitive equipment. The divided nations of Earth were in constant conflict with each other, each either putting corporate interests over state interests or state interests over corporate interests. The first Unionists that were located around the world wrote on the idea of Unionism spreading it through books and media. Soon the first Unionist movement formed in 2132 calling for a nation that would cover the entire world. It insisted that a union between corporate interests and state interests was possible and that if a nation was built with that in mind, it could achieve peace. The movement eventually grew around the world calling itself the Free The World movement. The main reason for this namesake was to signify they wanted to free the world of war, conflict, and chaos. One of the main benefits that these Unionists said came from their ideology was that if corporate powers and state powers combined, the people could still have a say through the corporations without putting either interest over the other. This was their main argument against democratic forms of government. They said that a democratic government gives the people the power, but by sacrificing either corporate interests or state interests. By sacrificing either for the other, Unionists thought that this was the cause for the chaos of the late 21st century and the early 22nd century. They also stated that to maintain peace a strong sense of national pride toward planet Earth itself and a strong well-funded military was needed. They also believed that a joint-agreement between corporations and the military could boost the military while boosting the corporations themselves as well meeting this goal. To do this however, corporations would need to be freed of all restrictions allowing them to grow. Over time many came to follow this ideology drawn to it out of desperation and panic. Unionist insurgencies began to form around Earth in 2145 attempting to overthrow nations and install a Unionist government that would ally themselves with other Unionist nations while invading countries who didn't follow the ideology. This made the Free The World movement into a terrorist organisation in the eyes of all of the nations on Earth.The divided nations on Earth however were no match for the numbers of people that populated the Free The World movement. This period of massive unrest across the world from 2145 to 2156 is what is commonly called the Global Unity War. After many riots, protests, and rebellions across the world, the first Unionist nations formed eventually spreading their influence across the entire world. With this done the Free The World movement had succeeded and the Unionist nations that existed all over Earth formed together to create the Union of Humanity on September 20th, 2156 which is now a national holiday in the UHS called Union Day which is a celebration of the birth of the nation and a day for Patriots to remember those who died for their freedom usually instilling many Patriots with an intense feeling of nationalist pride. The Global Unity War is said to have taken at least 1 billion lives. The Violet Terror The early years of the Union of Humanity was not without unrest. There were those that despite the massive popularity of Unionism, stayed true to their own ideologies. Communist, socialist, and anarchist movements caused most of the problems for the Unionist National Liberation Council. Since protesting for a cause outside of state ideology was prohibited and a death sentence, many of these far-left movements formed guerrilla militias that would raid UOH facilities, assassinate powerful figures in the UOH, disrupt the activities and trade of the military and corporations, and radicalized many people causing more sabotage. These groups only made a point to target facilities and people affiliated with the corporations or military of the UOH. This gained them trust with some Patriots in the population. In response, the large military of the UOH and private military organizations launched what would be called the Yellow Terror (due to the color of the Unionist ideology flag) on the masses that lasted from the birth of the nation in 2156 to 2170. What initiated it was one of the first ordinances passed by the Unionist National Liberation Council, the Anti-Communist Extermination Ordinance. This ordinance made it extremely dangerous to be associated with any communists, socialists, or anarchists. Anyone associated with them would be dragged out of their homes, tortured, beaten, many other terrible things, and then finally executed like an animal in mass graves by death squads sent by the military or some corporate entity. This effectively stopped most radicalization by the far-left guerrilla groups and slowly stopped the attacks these groups carried out over the years. Neighbors, family members, friends, wives, husbands, fathers, son, daughters, all of these and more gave the names of people they knew that were far-left to the UOH authorities and given pardons from execution for their service to the nation afterwards. Many people that were far-left and got caught were rounded up and treated like animals. They weren't given a quick death like people that might be associated with them. They were worked to death in corporate sweatshops, their lives being used for the sole purpose of profit. Naturally this sent the entire far-left movement underground. There they were able to hide and spread their ideology from the shadows. While the Anti-Communist Extermination Ordinance is still in effect in the modern Union of Human Settlements, these far-left movements still thrive having developed tactics over the years that have eluded authorities and kept their ideologies alive. The reason the Violet Terror is said to have ended in 2170 however is because that year was when most of the mass killings stopped. It's estimated that around 300 million people had been killed over the course of the Violet Terror. Reconstruction In the year of 2156, the effects of the Global Unity War were seen all over the world. What were once massive cities laid in ruins, beautiful fields had been torn and shredded by war. Many people that had the ability to, fled the large cities. Makeshift towns made out of wood and scrap were the norm for most Humans. Some still lived in the ruins as they just couldn't leave their home. After the formation of the Union, the UHS military quickly got to work trying to rebuild what had been destroyed with the help of the many mega-corporations. The cities which housed said mega-corporations had top priority in the reconstruction. After a period of 14 years, the cities which housed all of the different mega-corporations had an increasing population and the seats of the corporations had been established. People began to move back into large cities that had been destroyed. Life in the newly built cities wasn't great. Water and food was scarce and what resources that could be gathered were placed behind a price tag. As in the world before the Global Unity War, money was what kept you alive. However in these new Union cities, that fact had become much too real for the people living in them. Most people had to live at their workplaces to just survive the next day. A stream of constant work for all who lived in them. Live, eat, sleep, work was the normal routine in these cities. Many people gave up and starved or committed suicide. Some tried to flee back to the makeshift cities only to be shot down by a soldier's gun. The military and corporations had been placing propaganda up around the world to attract people to the Union cities only for them to never be able to leave. They were told the Union cities were the hope of the future and that they were wonderful places to live. When a city didn't have a big enough population, the Unionist National Liberation Council sent in the military and private military firms to go to these makeshift towns and force those there to move into a Union city. People in those towns would normally resist only to have an example made of them. The rest cowered in fear as soldiers herded them into vehicles and burned their houses down. Private military firms usually were the ones that upheld UOH law in most Union cities. Privates soldiers are a common site in these cities. They're seen patrolling, guarding areas, manning checkpoints, and at the doors of all businesses in the city. Military soldiers can also be seen at times in these cities. In 2170, after the formation of these cities, the UOH began another act of reconstruction this time taking 20 years until the world was rebuilt into normalcy. By this time all makeshift cities that had existed had been eliminated and most Humans lived in Union cities aside from the ones who lived in hiding from the UOH and lived in small communities usually underground. In 2190 the scars of the Global Unity War could still be seen, but huge cities had once again become a common occurrence. Resources became plentiful again as the UOH situated itself, still behind a price tag of course. For the first time in it's history the UOH had become peaceful and it's era of reconstruction had come to an end.